John Wilkes Booth & Tumblety- A Witness Remembers

[Sam Flynn]

Truly, one of the greatest tragedies in history.

[Chris G.]

Hi Gareth

I agree, Gareth. And what did Booth gain by Lincoln's assassination? The South had already lost the war. Arguably the peace and Reconstruction would have been less harsh on the South under Lincoln, who had already demonstrated the desire to shy away from retribution against the South, than it proved under Andrew Johnson.

Best regards

Chris

[Chris G.]

TONIGHT: President #Lincoln's Assassination #Lincoln150 @fordstheatre – LIVE 10pm ET C-SPAN2 http://cs.pn/1OvMD2V

[Howard Brown]

Major Rathbone, the man Booth stabbed in the President's box, while in Germany serving as a Consul to Hanover, murdered his wife in 1883....and was committed to a German mental institution for the rest of his life ( 28 years) until his death in 1911.

[Stan Reid]

Boston Corbett, the man who killed Booth, also wound up in the insane asylum.

[Phillip Walton]

I was told that Lincoln had an illness that meant he would have only lived for a few more weeks at the most.

[Howard Brown]

Phil:

Several claims abound that Lincoln's health was declining before the assassination. These are often based on photographs appearing to show weight loss and muscle wasting. One such claim is that he suffered from a rare genetic disorder MEN2b, which manifests with a medullary thyroid carcinoma, mucosal neuromas and a Marfinoid appearance. Others simply claim he had Marfan's syndrome, based on his tall appearance with spindly fingers, and the association of possible aortic regurgitation, which can cause bobbing of the head (DeMusset's sign) – based on blurring of Lincoln's head in photographs, which back then had a long exposure time. DNA analysis is so far being refused by the Grand Army of the Republic museum in Philadelphia

[JMenges]

Boston Corbett, the man who killed Booth, also wound up in the insane asylum.

The Topeka State Hospital



Now abandoned with only one building still standing.



Nice place to spend a day with the family.





JM

[Chris G.]

"The Little Known Canadian Links to Lincoln’s Assassination" by John Boyko.

Thought there might be a mention of Dr. Tumblety on this blog posting, but no. . .

[Chris G.]

"Abraham Lincoln’s Premonition Of Death" by Jonathan R. Allen.

"Only three days before Abraham Lincoln’s visit to Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865 to see a performance of the play 'Our American Cousin,' he has a strange and eerie dream. . . ."

[Phillip Walton]

The Topeka State Hospital



Now abandoned with only one building still standing.



Nice place to spend a day with the family.





JM

Here in the UK such buildings would be converted into (very expensive) luxury apartments.

[Joe Chetcuti]

Mike Hawley's article in the current issue of Ripperologist has revived this topic. Mike presented his case about how the "yellow fever plot" wasn't really a factor in Tumblety's May 1865 arrest in St. Louis.

An extra tidbit about the article is that Mike discovered that Tumblety briefly opened a medical office in New Orleans in Dec 1864. It did not appear that Tumblety was successful there, but he hit it big in St. Louis shortly afterwards.

Post 31 on this thread shows an illustration of the assassination. I was at Ford's Theater 40 years ago, and I recall the tour guide saying that plays are still performed there on the stage. I don't know if that still is the case. The theater is a national monument.

Another thing about Mike's report is that he printed a May 1865 article that revealed the name of A. Berry as Booth's alleged errand boy. But without his full first name, it will be tough to find the boy. Although Mike did offer a few possibilities of who the kid may have been.

[Michael Hawley]

Hi all,

Great dialogue. In August 1863, Dr. T had opened up an office in Albany, NY, before going on to Brooklyn where Booth was performing, but not under his name. He called himself "Dr. Blackburne" in his Albany ads. An eyewitness recalled seeing him in Albany at that very time. With him being forced to leave Phily at the beginning of July (likely the reason why he used the alias), I don't think you'll find any Buffalo ads. It was only weeks-long, so he may have been between jobs. We know on two other occasions when Dr. T got into trouble with the law, he sneaked off to Waterloo, New York (a sister lived there), which is between Albany and Buffalo/Rochester. Dr. T's niece and nephew stated under oath that Dr. T generally visited Rochester once a year throughout his life. Rochester is a stone's throw away from Buffalo (where I live) and this theater-going person with time on his hands would have known Booth was performing at Buffalo's largest theater. Incidentally, one of my aikido students lives at the very location of where the Acadamy of Music once stood. Just as Howard pointed out, the eyewitness was discussing Booth and nailed the date, while Tumblety was a side-issue. Additionally, the early 1860s was a time that Tumblety constantly published ads, but not in July 1863.

I'm still kicking myself, because I remember reading an article where an eyewitness recalled seeing Dr. T and Booth competing for the attention of the other hotel residents in the capital. This had to have been in 1863 or before. The errand boy told the 41st Precinct officer that Dr. T and Booth met in DC, which is corroboration. If you read my Rip article, I never added it, because I still can't find that article! The timing makes sense when we see Booth and Dr. T in the same cities immediately after this.

Sincerely,

Mike